Thanks for today!

Hey, it was great to be with you all today at Tiera Coffee shop in Iowa City. I enjoyed our discussion of "The Politics of Jesus." Wish we could use this blog spot for more discussion in between meetings. Oh well, just ordered the Escobar book on the "wild ways of Jesus" and am already looking forward to our February discussion. See you then!

November Gathering

We are planning another gathering on November 16th at noon. We will be meeting again at Tierra Coffee in Coralville.  I recommend the grapefruit thingy I had last time. Yum!

We plan to discuss Julie Clawson's book, Everyday Justice. So, get your copy however you can and read up, so you can join in the conversation. This time we are trying to have participants share a chapter if reading a whole book is proving a challenge. Let us know which chapter you want to share. Hope to see you there!

We are planning another gathering on October 12th at noon. We have new digs since our last hang out closed. The new place is called Tierra Coffee in Coralville.  I think you will like it and it is still a central location (although, I can no longer just walk across the parking lot :).

We plan to discuss Alan Hirsch's book, The Forgotten Ways: Reactivating the Missional Church. So, get your copy however you can and read up, so you can join in the conversation. Hope to see you there!

September Gathering

We are planning another gathering in September. This time I have invited everyone to my house in Kalona. We plan to meet Monday evening September 12th at 5:30 p.m. Let's make it a potluck and everyone bring something to share. I will have the grill fired up if you would like to bring some type of meat. Our regular meeting place has closed, but we hope to meet in October at Capanna's new place just a few minutes north on 965 in North Liberty.

September 12th we plan to discuss Tony Jones' new e-book The Church is Flat: The Relational Ecclesiology of the Emerging Church Movement. This is his Ph.D. dissertation, so buckle up. Tony has agreed to join us by video conference. We are going to try and do the Google+ "hang out" group video chat. If you can't come to the gathering, but would like to join in from where ever you are search for me on goggle+ and add me to one of your circles. I will add you and make sure you know about the "hang out". If you are new to google+, email me and I will send you an invite and some info.

Cohort Meeting Wednesday!

This Wednesday, August 17th we will be gathering again for good coffee (fair trade of course), good conversation and good people. We will meet in the usual spot at the usual time. We plan to discuss Shane Claiborne's book, The Irresistible Revolution. I have to be honest, this guy is the real deal. Many of you remember we have had authors join us over Skype to discuss their books with us. I didn't even try to get him to join us this time. I would be too ashamed of my conspicuous consumption. The Holy Spirit really has been speaking to me through this guy.  I'll be interested how some others reacted to this book.

I found an interesting article he wrote for Esquire some time back that is making a comeback on many blogs recently. What is so interesting to me is how it seems to allude to Rob Bell's book Love Wins. The problem is that it was written in 2009. I wondered if Rob got some of his ideas from Shane...

I'm also eager to hear more from Deb about The Wild Goose Festival. She wrote in her blog that she first got the idea from Brian McLaren in one of our cohort Skype conversations. How cool is that? Hope to see you Wednesday :)  Lon